Kartchner Caverns, AZ Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Kartchner Caverns's primary NOAA station, KARTCHNER CAVERNS.
The climate verdict for Kartchner Caverns
Dryness leads the climate profile for Kartchner Caverns, Arizona, with 15.3 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 62°F. It scores 80/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 76% of them.
- 62°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 80/100
- comfort score, above 76% of station-mapped location scores
- 15.3"
- precipitation, annual total
- 240 days
- frost-free growing season
Kartchner Caverns: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00024534 · Kartchner Caverns, AZ 62°F mean · 15.3" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 62°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,489
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Calhoun Falls
- PRCP-DRY 15.3"
- SWING-MID 32°F
- COMF-TOP 80/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USC00024534
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Calhoun Falls, SC (+ 0 °F mean)
Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.
Mean-temperature neighbourhood
Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every AZ station list.
- Kartchner Caver… (this station) 62°F
- Hot Elizabethtown, NC 62°F
- Near Calhoun Falls, SC 62°F
- Near Covington, GA 62°F
- Near Edenton, NC 62°F
Climate Living Index · Kartchner Caverns
Kartchner Caverns: 75/100 · grade B
Kartchner Caverns publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Kartchner Caverns, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 80/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 57 calendar days | 90/100 · A |
| Frost-free season | 240 days/year | 85/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 62.1°F · 5.4° from 67.5°F | 83/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 15.3 in · 19.7 from 35 in | 29/100 · F |
Kartchner Caverns · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Kartchner Caverns's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 78.3°F
- Coldest month
- 46.2°F
Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.
National standing · balanced station
Where Kartchner Caverns sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Kartchner Caverns's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 20% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Kartchner Caverns sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 82%
- Kartchner Caverns's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 87%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Kartchner Caverns is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Kartchner Caverns compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Kartchner Caverns's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
80 Top 24% score exceeds 76% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Below this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Below this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Below this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). This entry sits in this band.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60°F (15°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 1.1" | 11.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 62°F (17°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 1.0" | 8.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 69°F (21°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 0.7" | 2.3 | 0.0 |
| April | 75°F (24°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 0.3" | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| May | 84°F (29°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 0.2" | 0.0 | 5.8 |
| June | 94°F (34°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 77°F (25°C) | 0.5" | 0.0 | 26.7 |
| July | 91°F (33°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 78°F (26°C) | 3.2" | 0.0 | 19.6 |
| August | 89°F (32°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 76°F (25°C) | 3.5" | 0.0 | 16.2 |
| September | 86°F (30°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 2.1" | 0.0 | 8.4 |
| October | 79°F (26°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 0.8" | 0.4 | 1.6 |
| November | 68°F (20°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 0.7" | 3.2 | 0.0 |
| December | 59°F (15°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 1.1" | 13.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Kartchner Caverns runs from a mild 32°F around January 1 to 95°F at the peak near June 19, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from May 30 through July 25, covering 57 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs March 19 to November 9.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
No freezing date
Not one calendar date in the 1991–2020 record carries a normal low at or below 32°F. The coldest normal low of the year is 32°F around January 1.
The widest day
June 4 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 35°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Kartchner Caverns.
Where Kartchner Caverns Stands Nationally
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 15 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Daily temperature swings run wider than most of the country, peaking near 35°F between the normal high and low.
Kartchner Caverns earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
Kartchner Caverns runs a summer-peaked wet season
48% of Kartchner Caverns's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is August at 3.5", on a 32.1°F seasonal spread. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: August, July, September, taking 58% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: May at 0.2".
- Winter share: 21% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
November 15
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
March 20
50% probability date
Growing Season
240 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,602
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,572
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside AZ closest to Kartchner Caverns on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.
Closest by average temperature
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (62°F here).
- Calhoun Falls, SC 62°F · 0.0°F off
- Covington, GA 62°F · 0.0°F off
- Edenton, NC 62°F · 0.0°F off
- Elizabethtown, NC 62°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (15.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Meeker, CO 15.3" · 0.0" off
- Biddle, MT 15.3" · 0.0" off
- Collbran, CO 15.3" · 0.0" off
- Savage, MT 15.3" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Kartchner Caverns's climate pattern fits together
mixed demand · dry · mid swing
Local precipitation is sparse in this otherwise mixed profile. The station reports 15.3 inches annually, within PlainClimate's dry band. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. The monthly distribution matters because the total alone does not reveal the timing.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Kartchner Caverns's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 32.1°F. The annual average is 62°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Heating and cooling both register in Kartchner Caverns's normal, at 2,602 and 1,572 degree days respectively. Neither total exceeds the other by more than two to one, so the record is better read as a mixed-demand calendar than as heating-led or cooling-led.
Kartchner Caverns has a long frost-free window of roughly 240 days, but the dry annual profile is a separate constraint. Growing-season length says when freezes are unlikely, not whether rainfall is sufficient.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Kartchner Caverns's primary station, where heating and cooling demand are close enough that neither season sets the character on its own. On a balanced station like Kartchner Caverns, the bands are descriptive ranges rather than an official NOAA classification or a forecast.
Questions about Kartchner Caverns's climate
How much rain does Kartchner Caverns get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Kartchner Caverns get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Kartchner Caverns? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Kartchner Caverns's primary station: KARTCHNER CAVERNS (USC00024534). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Kartchner Caverns; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Kartchner Caverns comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.